I got my M-Audio X-Session Pro today, really good for mixing with Ableton Live at least. I got problems, due to the fact (I think) that it was sending midi on the same channel as my Xboard (midi keyboard) and it was sending the pots positions every second. I got pissed a lot while assigning midi controls to Ableton, but now it seems to be gone

@designer_voodoo : I think I found the right thing to say : here, 300€ will still be 300€ tomorrow, even if tomorrow 1€ = 1.5$

That shit only becomes important if you're selling over seas. I'm making lots of money off the fact that the US dollar is so low compared to the euro. Means when I sell it to europe I easilly break even or gain some money, so yay for biff. For some reason, lots of people are afraid to ship over seas, but I've yet to have a problem and I've gone through a million synths being shipped over there (I don't hold on to all of them cause i figure if i sell them off I can keep looking for the one that matches my music/sound I am longing for).

I don't even want to buy a synth somewhere else in France. I don't trust at all the french post... They lost a 30€ t-shirt, and I was mad, I can't imagine how it will be if they lost a 300€ synth...

Hi all... I'm from a live act in Australia. Enjoying reading some of the setups on here. I don't really have the patience to list all our live or studio gear but its nice to see what you guys are rocking :)

A-station came today! Whoooo, can't wait to get this thing figured out and start the tweaking.

Just give it some time. George Bush will push the dollar even lower on the global economic market before he finally ends his term. Then you can buy it cheap.

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I understand you are very young and haven't had much experience with gear so i will politely recommend you read the date on those reviews, and then work out who Afro88 is and why his opinions are worth considering. The MC-505 is rubbish, i was using it a decade ago in a live act, plus the MC-307, because its all we really had besides MMT8's, MPC's etc. I could write an essay on sequencers and romplers from this era, i'm talking a decade of my life, but you probably wouldn't listen. Get an MC-505 if you think they are so awesome but please be more open to learning from those who have come before you.

You apparently missed my later posts. Actually, I never used it at all. There was something about the filter that I hated. There's no way I could understand paying $1000+ for it when it was intially released. HOWEVER, I paid a fourth of that and later traded it for a new korg es-1mkii and $100 cash, which I put towards a novation a-station. I ultimately came out on top, I'd say.

That said, you could easily make something decent with it, I assume, but I never really caught on. As it is said, the final product has less to do with the gear than the artist, and as a pretty flexible box, it's hard to find very solid ground to attack the mc-505 on, especially considering its price. When you come to think of it, there isn't much within the traditional realm of stuff that it cannot do. Most people on VSE had nice things to say about it in many aspects.

Look here if you feel like reading good things that experienced synth nerds have to say about the 505: http://www.vintagesy...pic.php?t=26393

Of course it's rubbish if you're using a virus ti, minimoog, tr-808, and elektron machinedrum or something, but for its price today it's not too bad. Musical gear can't be talked about in such a way as "my toys are better than yours." Surely there isn't infinite subjectivity in the matter, BUT it is, for the most part user-dependant. People can make good music with the mc-505. It is indeed possible.

When it comes down to it though, my defense of the 505 was based on the opinions of others and for the sake of self-assurance, so that I could stay happy with my purchase until I got something else that I used more often. I probably actually did convince myself that it was a decent machine through other people's praise of it, which was rather easy when I wasn't using it. I'm not sure whether further use and experimentation would have affirmed or changed my opinion, but that doesn't really matter now. We're pretty much kicking a dead horse here. I got a pretty nice trade out of it and never looked back.

Btw, do not bring age into this. Period. Or gtfo of this forum. I really cannot stand this bit of "my opinion is obviously so much more qualified than yours" pretentiousness you're bringing to this thread. I know you lace it with a condescending aura of politeness, but honestly, that's even more insulting. Say something about the 505 if you're going to and show your lofty qualifications through effective arguement instead of hoping that you can make statements such as that and let your opinion stand on only the basis of "I'm older than you are" and "the guy who shares my opinion is more experienced than you are." The 505 may be a dead horse, but if you think you're right, here, prove it the old-fashioned way. I'll gladly concede points where you are correct, but so far you haven't thrown out anything. You're lucky, you win here, because there's nothing left to argue. You pulled up a post from a few months ago about a piece of gear I no longer own and don't really care about defending to much of an extent, but I'm still going to shun your tactics. Don't talk about writing an essay, write one. I'd gladly read it if it's under 10 pages and well-written. You think you're going to come in here and tell me to "respect my superiors" or something? Come on man, I've been here for around 3 more years than you have. As much as you might like to be able to have your opinion immediately trump mine, sorry, but I'd like to face off in an old-fashioned arguement before admitting defeat. You should have no problem winning if you're as great as you think you are. /end rant. Just stay on the same level as all of us, here because I really won't acknowledge your superiority until you prove it to me.

No need to be so defensive when someone offers advice. We dont claim superiority, i think afro88 can vouch for the standing of my act. We've been around for a long time as other projects but Segue is only in it's 2nd year. Happy to share our experience if its understood in the context that its given. I used a Roland as lead sequencer for over 50 gigs in the 90's, running an S2000 sampler with 2megs of RAM and other stuff like a midi-less Juno 6 etc. Hated the Grooveboxes. Worked around most of its issues though, including the steppy filter, the Pattern/Song limitations and of course the woeful ROM based sounds and Roland's 4 tone layering system. These days its all MPC, X-Station, Ableton, etc... as you can see here in this nasty little vid our agent snapped at last friday's gig: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=g95CwMvxM0k

This Friday we play the same event Afro88's act does so its a bit of CB forum meetup Australian style :)

Getting my MS2000R in an hour :D and I'm selling my Xboard 25 to get some money. Noy that I have the XSession pro I can use its pot and my Juno as a midi keyboard, so the XBoard is not useful for the moment

Got it :)

It's so cool, I love the vocoder :D

"We dont claim superiority"

Sorry, but there was a whole lot of condescention in your first post. I know you may have backed down now, but really, look at it. Whatever, it's fine. I checked your myspace last night. It's pretty good stuff.

Glad to see you like your ms2000, ben_j! I'm enjoying the vocoder on my a-station as well.

in the chems live show what is the kit that tom uses to lay percussions over ooc. It seems that a basic drum loop is played on the akai for the track and then he layers extra bits over the top, useing the pads and drum sticks.

Im guessing its something like this.....

http://www.turnkey.c...PDS&context=WEB

I think it's a Roland Octopad something.

That's cool in less than a day I know how to use the MS. Thanks to the many VSTs I've used I know exactly what each knob will do. The virtual patch is a cool feature ! The only functionnality that causes me problems now is the seq.

correct it's the octopad, they said so in a surrender era fan question in which someone asked what ed was doing with that drum stick,

virtual patch is god, gives it some real tweaked noises

Any footage or pics handy of that? The octopads have been out of production for a long time and id have imagine they would have swapped it out by now. Unlike an MS20 or something they don't really have a great lot of redeeming awesomeness. We used a SPD6 for a while, purely for the midi triggering and doubling as audio and visual trigger for Battery/Resolume. Always frustrated me how sensitive the piezo elements inside it were.

Would have thought they'd be all over something like the Kat range, http://www.alternatemode.com/

Basically Im looking to improve mine and mikes live set my adding an extra element that sounds good and looks interesting to watch. The Plan is to have loads of loops of beats, base lines ect in ableton, then have some single hit samples of percussions that i can trigger and play live with the drum sticks. The samples would ideally be stored in ableton rather than use those buit in. Any ideas?

Maybe a Trigger Finger would be enough. But if you really want to hit with drumsticks, yeah, go for an octopad